The Juxtaposition Of Three Moral Tendencies In Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark

The thesis is to make a deep study of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark by using ethical approach. Due to the close relationship between ethics and literature, ethical approach has always been essential in the history of literary criticism. Nowadays, however, ethical approach is being consciously or unconsciously dodged by most Chinese scholars in the field of foreign literary criticism. This thesis tries to illustrate that it is equally important to reinvigorate ethical criticism and seek a new turn for its traditional approaches. It is necessary and possible to seek a new turn for ethical criticism. The new turn must do away with the traditional dogmatic criticism, and in order to regain the moral value of literature, it should bear ethical responsibilities to explore the moral tension of literary texts. Thomas Keneally is an internationally renowned Australian writer, enjoying a special fame for historical novels among which Schindler's Ark has been generally acknowledged as the greatest one. The moral multiplicity of the novel accounts for its greatness, and it can not be dealt with by traditional ethical approaches. Therefore, it is of academic importance to study Schindler's Ark with a new approach of ethical criticism. In this lies the creativity of the thesis.This thesis has seven chapters. The first chapter consists of two parts. The first part is to discuss the importance of the novelist, Thomas Keneally, in Australian literature and in world literature as well and to explore his consistent moral conscientiousness in some of his representative historical novels. The second part is to introduce the thesis's rationale, purposes, significance and creativity.The second chapter is to briefly explore ethical criticism, reviewing its importance in the history of literary criticism both in the Western countries and in China, the great difficulties it encounters in the late 20 century, and suggesting the necessity and feasibility of seeking a new turn for the traditional ethical approach.The third chapter is first to review some critical works on Schindler's Ark. Then, it is to illustrate the novel's narrative features along with its polyphonic nature and consequently present the thesis statement: three moral tendencies, namely, Utilitarian tendency, Kantian...